Looked as this truck today, need thoughts
 

Hey guys, went and looked at this 2000 Limited today, it's very very clean (absolutely no rust anywhere on the body), and fairly clean underneath. It supposedly is from Kentucky and then this guy bought it in Florida and drove it up here. It has 107,xxx miles on it but unfortunately has no e-locker :(

He was asking $9800 for it....fair price or no? I was thinking of offering around $8500 or so.

My worry is that the frame looks almost too good in spots and then others it's pretty rusty. I know it's supposedly a southern truck but he painted the entire frame and underbody.

On another note, it had a slight clunk on occasion when you were accelerating and then you'd lift off the throttle, I'm thinking bad trans mount possibly? I know it's hard to diagnose problems like this online but if anyone has input let me know.

Other than that the truck was flawless, drove and ran fantastic and everything worked as it should (including the power antenna!).

Sorry for the dark photos, it was getting dark outside when I took them.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...i.jpg~original

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...2.jpg~original

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...f.jpg~original

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...e.jpg~original

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...m.jpg~original

I own a '00 "southern" truck originally from TN that spent 4 years in Michigan and I ended up buying in South FL. It has never been undercoated and doesn't have anywhere near that much rust. Especially around those body brackets. That's not just surface rust, that's flaky. You can tell the mufflers been replaced too. To give you an idea my truck was pretty clean and I paid 4k for it. I wouldn't pay more than that for this one either, especially with all that rust.

That rust isn't too crazy but it sure looks like something is trying to be hidden with the fresh paint.

$9800 is way too much even with those miles. Unless it was completely refurbished (new tires, WP/TB, flawless, clean interior, and not one ding or scratch) would I even consider paying over 9K, That's a $7.5-8K truck at the most and that's only going by the miles. Seller is obviously a little off so will probably scoff at a sub 8K offer so I would just walk away at that point.

I mean I have definitely seen worse up here in MI but the rear end looks pretty bad on it. I mean the axle on my 2004 Ranger that has seen a winter every year since it was new looks better than that. Nothing looked like it was compromised structurally though, so that's good.

The other thing is it is going to need valve cover gaskets soon since they're weeping. Timing belt was supposedly done when the truck had 93k on it, so that's good to go. Oh, and it also will need tires in the not too distant future.

That's definitely a cover up paint job

I would pass, that painted rust will always bother me. I would rather have dings on the body over a rusted frame. you can find many 4runners for under 10k

If he replaced the muffler at 100K miles, then one of this is true: Has highmiles or rusted badly due to salt, or both.

Paint job is to hide corrosion. He even painted the plastic cover plate right under the driver's seat!

Pass that truck. Not even close to $9800.

I'm probably going to hit him with an offer of between $7000 and $7500 which I'm sure he won't like. We'll see how that goes.

Got off the phone with him, apparently there was some miscommunication between him and his parents (who showed it to me last night), it's actually from the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area, which explains why it has slight rust.

He also said that he took it to a shop and they were the ones who painted the frame and that he has that done to every vehicle he's owned.

I didn't hit him with an offer, it sounded like the lowest he was willing to go was around $9000.

I'd be worried about what's under the paint job, I'd rather clean up the belly myself and then rust proof it just to know what's under there... For that asking price it should have AT LEAST have a locker, and it's still too much, in my opinion... You're already worried about a rattle or a clunk, who knows what else you might find... Was the timing belt/water pump ever replaced? What condition are the fluids in? Does the vehicle have service records? Too many questions, asking price is too much, if you were to make an offer, be prepared to possibly spend even more on replacing stuff that was neglected on a 16 year old vehicle, even if it has low miles. I paid $5K for my 00 and spent another $5K just replacing parts because they were way overdue, not that anything was wrong, but I felt it was time to replace them, the suspension like springs and shocks, brakes, steering parts like tie rods, ball joints, bushings, all fluids like oil, trans, gear, brake... The list is HUGE!

Good Luck and don't be afraid to ask questions about every little thing, especially if he's asking close to $10K for it...

Edit: I see the timing belt was replaced at 93K miles, on that CL post.

By the way, here is the craigslist link for those who want a few more pictures.

2000 Toyota 4RUNNER (Mint Condition)

It was "supposedly" done then, but he has no service records. Yeah I might have to do a hard pass on this one.

$9800 is insane. I paid $8k for a 2000 SR5 with over 25k less miles with NO rust anywhere. That was over 3 years ago and from a dealership, no less. If I were you I would take that guy under the truck and poke your finger through a rust hole, then offer him $6,000. If he doesn't take it right there, walk. When rust is bad enough that you can't repair it, you just paint over it and hope no one notices.

I'm not going to even hit him with an offer because I feel he'll be insulted with it. So I'm probably just going to let this one get away.

If you want it, tell him just that and see what happens.

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